Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring ownership of land or buildings from one person to another. Major legislative reforms in recent years to conveyancing law include the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Acts 2009-21. The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 (‘2009 Act’) was a major piece of reforming legislation, which repealed a large number of outdated laws and concepts, and modernised much of our land and conveyancing law.

Since the 2009 Act, a number of further reforming amendments have been introduced, including in 2021 through the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform (Amendment) Act, which clarified the law regarding registration of prescriptive easements and profits à prendre.

In addition, the Registration of Title Act 1964 and Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006, provided for mandatory progressive registration in the Land Registry of property ownership in Ireland, and later merged the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds into a single property registration body, the Property Registration Authority (itself merged into Tailte Éireann, in March 2023). Some 90% of Irish property now has its ownership registered in the Land Registry.

Regarding the granting of probate in the conveyancing process, it may also interest the Deputy to know that the Courts Service have embarked on a 10-year programme of modernisation of the Courts system. A proposal to roll out an eProbate project has been identified as part of the civil law modernisation workstream.

I have secured an additional funding allocation for the Courts Service to facilitate the delivery of eProbate in 2024. The introduction of this improved system should lead to a faster and more efficient process. The reform of conveyancing law and the conveyancing system is therefore ongoing and will continue to be updated, where identified as appropriate.

The Taoiseach recently established a Working Group on Conveyancing and Probate to carry out a review of current conveyancing and probate processes and identify scope for greater efficiency and streamlining. It is envisaged that this Group will report its recommendations in the coming months to the Housing for All Secretaries General delivery group.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the Government is committed to facilitating easier, speedier access to justice for both individuals and businesses.

However, Summary judgments are covered by Rules of Court and are therefore a matter for the Courts Service and the judiciary, who are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution.

While all legislation is kept under review, there are no plans to amend the law governing summary judgements at this time.